The Chronicles of Monster Planet. Роман Елиава

anyone yet, I thought and looked at Boris. Apparently, the peaceful beginning did not convince him at all.

      “First of all, let me introduce myself,” the mustachioed man continued. “My name is Edward Trevor, the commandant of this base. This is my deputy, Alex Bush,” he pointed to the man next to him. “You already know Dr. Hill and Dr. Stein. And this is our security chief, Vincent Taney,” he introduced the man just entering the room.

      “Sorry for being late, I was busy,” Taney said, taking a seat. “Go on, Ed.”

      I didn't like this new person, another camouflaged guy. Slender build. About thirty years old. Dark slicked back hair.

      “Now, after all introductions, let's proceed to the matter at hand. I would like to congratulate you on a successful arrival and welcome you to the Terra Nova planet on behalf of all colonists living at this base.”

      Saying that my jaw dropped in surprise after his words would fail to describe the true extent of my astonishment. I turned my head and saw that my fellow astronauts felt the same – they looked as if competing for the world's most surprised expression. As befits a commander, Finn was the first to come to his senses.

      “It can't be true. Is that some kind of a sick joke? Was the flight canceled?”

      We shouted in support of our commander, asking the same questions all at once. Trevor raised his hand for silence.

      “Yes, you heard it right. It's hard to believe. But it is true.”

      “But how?” Finn asked.

      “Your flight was a very long one. Almost two hundred years. A lot of things happened during this time. The most important of them occurred on Earth ten years after you left it. A way to move through the Droescher-Heim space was invented, that is, the ability to puncture conventional space in order to travel faster than light.

      We fell silent.

      “You had a Pullman-Anderson sub-light drive leveraging the Pullman effect. But puncturing space is instantaneous, all you need is an enormous amount of energy,” he cleared his throat.

      I think all of us just sat there for a while – confused, with our jaws dropped.

      “You see,” the speaker continued, “a new expedition was arranged and sent to Terra Nova. It reached the planet one hundred and thirty years before you did. Do you understand?”

      We kept silent. I finally closed my mouth and heard Boris grunt incredulously next to me.

      “The colonists reported that the planet is habitable, but humans can't breathe the local atmosphere. Which means modified atmosphere is required to establish bases here,” he paused.

      “But a new problem arose,” Trevor continued. “The planet is inhabited. It is inhabited by an aggressive life form showing vestiges of intelligence. And these creatures have an advantage. It is their home world. These monsters wiped out the colonists from the first expedition. And from the next one too. We are descendants of the third colonization wave. This,” he made a circular motion, “is the third human base on this planet.”

      “Were there other expeditions?” Finn asked.

      Trevor shook his head and answered, “Communication with Earth is lost. We don't have enough power for a hyperspace puncture. And there have been no ships from Earth in the last fifty years.”

      The hall sank into a deathly silence. Everyone was gripped by foreboding thoughts about the fate of their home planet, as well as relatives and friends back there. About humanity as a civilization.

      “How many people do you have here?” Lisa asked.

      “Twenty-eight,” Trevor replied. “Thirty-three, counting you.”

      “Not enough. An almost extinct population,” Leonov commented.

      “We know,” Taney looked at him. “And it grows even smaller as we continue to fight the indigenous life forms.”

      The news was quite shocking. My thoughts were racing back and forth between the flight and the incomprehensible situation here, I could not concentrate on anything. But then the smartest member of our team, a winner of the Abel Prize in mathematics, Ji Cheng, spoke.

      “You’ve said that the first expedition arrived a hundred and thirty years before us. But if the drive was built ten years after our departure, then the expedition should have arrived one hundred and sixty-nine years before us, because a hyperspace flight from Earth to this planet takes twenty-one years,” she said and looked at her watch.

      Trevor and Bush exchanged glances. To be honest, I didn't understand how she had arrived to this conclusion.

      “I said that the drive was invented, not built. The project took several decades to implement. Are you satisfied? Any other questions?” Trevor asked with displeasure when Cheng nodded.

      “I'd like to examine the medical part of the base,” Boris requested.

      “Yes, sure, but all in good time,” Trevor raised his hands reassuringly. “Let's have a meal first. Sheila will show you to the mess hall. Then we'll assign you stations at the base according to your professional skills.”

      “And the locals? What are they?” I asked, unexpectedly for myself.

      “The indigenous life forms – monsters, as we call them – are the dominant species of this planet. Their intelligence is not very developed, but they show animalistic ferocity and are quite cunning. You will have plenty of opportunities to see them. You'll see enough of them to make you sick, believe me,” Bush replied. “What else?”

      We kept silent, so Finn expressed his willingness to have a meal.

      “Before you leave,” Taney got up from his seat, “take these bracelets. They act as wireless passes that grant you access to the base compartments.”

      “We can't go everywhere, can we?” Finn asked.

      “Not until you get to know the base better. Actually, it is for your own good. There are quite many dangerous areas here.”

      Sheila was our guide again, we followed her – but not until we took the bracelets from Vincent Taney's hands.

      “What are they hiding from us?” the Russian doctor whispered in my ear.

      “You do have a penchant for distrust, don't you, Boris?” I said, dismissing his suspicions.

      “Mark my words!” he noted pointedly, his eyes flashing fire, but I was already ahead of him.

      Boris hurried after me. I wanted to catch up with Cheng and have a word with her, but suddenly I ran into a charming blue-eyed brunette. Her graceful figure distracted me from the Chinese specialist and serious questions.

      “Aren't you a power engineer from the Hope?” she asked in a deep, velvety voice.

      “That would be me. How can I help such a beautiful lady?”

      “How nice of you to say that!”

      “It's a family trait,” I smiled my most enticing smile.

      “I'm Anna Ericsson, an engineer at this base,” the girl held out her hand. “It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

      Her handshake was warm and firm. And suddenly I felt like drowning in those big, sensual eyes of hers. The reverie was broken by a metallic sound of Cheng's bracelet falling on the immaculately polished floor. Anna and I looked at her at once. But she didn't notice dropping the bracelet or our stares. Ji was looking at her watch intently. She's calculating something again, I thought. But what? She clearly doesn't like something about this place. Is something wrong with time? If only I had known back then what I know now! On the other hand, maybe it wouldn't have changed anything.

      “Hey, Ji,” I called out to the astrophysicist.

      “Ah?” she shuddered. “Everything's fine.”

      She picked up the bracelet and hurried after Sheila to the mess hall. But it made me think. The unbalanced and overly suspicious Russian is one thing, but the extremely preoccupied Chinese